Nowhere Fast
by alykel
Summary: Back on Earth Elizabeth can't sleep, but she's not the only one...


She just couldn't sleep. She was tired, it was late, but she just couldn't sleep.

She turned in her bed and opened her eyes, her sight adjusting to the dark, and she took in the shapes of the unfamiliar room.

Since she did not really have a home to come home to on earth anymore she had decided to stay in a hotel for the two weeks she was here. She could as well have stayed at the SGC, like John and the others did, but she had wanted to get away from everything that had to do with her job.

Only to find out now that the job was apparently all she could think about.

She had nothing to do. Since Atlantis was now in almost constant contact with earth, there hadn't been much of a briefing. After three days everything important had been discussed.

This had been her fifth day back on earth. Nine more to go. Was she already counting it down now? She sighed. She should be glad to be back, to see her planet again. And she was, she told herself. She just needed something to do.

On her fourth day, the first she hadn't had to be at the SGC, she had taken a long walk. It had been good. On Atlantis she didn't even get out of her office very often, and the times she actually had left the city were even more rare. She had enjoyed the fresh air. It had reminded her of her balcony back on Atlantis a bit, but she had quickly pushed the thought away.

The fifth day, today, she had tried to read a book, but had found herself unable to concentrate. Her thoughts kept wandering away to her city, her people, her job.

She then had tried to call some old friends of hers, but all the conversations had been rather awkward. At some point they all had wanted to know what she had been doing lately, a question she couldn't answer.

The rest of the day she had spent in a state of restlessness, picking up several books without reading them, trying to watch TV without even really noticing what she was watching, pacing her room trying not think of Atlantis, of mission reports and of the nine days she still had to spend here on earth.

At ten she decided to go to bed. It was more than early for her, but she wanted this day to end. Maybe the next day would be better.

Yet she simply wouldn't fall asleep.

She looked up at her alarm clock. 11.05.

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her breathing, to stop thinking. It didn't work. Sleep still wouldn't come.

At 11.17 she got up, turned on the light, picked up a book and opened it, staring at the page in front of her, but not reading. She didn't even know which of her books it was. And she didn't care. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't stop thinking, but she couldn't concentrate either.

She turned the light out again and curled up on her bed, watching the shadows on the walls.

11.32. She was staring at the ceiling, going over everything she had said at the last briefing back at the SGC. She was just making sure she hadn't forgotten some important detail, something she should have told them... after all, she did have the time to go back there tomorrow, and maybe add some important things to her report that she hadn't thought to be important at the time... no, she had told them everything. And John had given his report as well.

She wondered what he was doing now. She had last seen him the day before yesterday. They had talked a little after the last briefing. He had walked her to the car that had been waiting to take her to her hotel. He himself was staying at the SGC. He also didn't have a home to go home to.

She wished now that she had also stayed there. At least then she would have had someone to talk to. On the other hand, he was probably busy. With ... whatever. She had given him her phone number, in case there was something he needed to discuss with her. Just in case. She hadn't expected him to call, of course. It was really just in case.

At 11.48 she was going over the latest mission reports of her teams back on Atlantis again in her head. She was trying to decide whether they had lately been to a planet where they could have possibly missed the presence of a working ZPM, one that they could take, one that they could maybe use to power the earth gate.

It was 11.54 when the phone rang.

She sat up on her bed to answer it. She heard nothing on the other end, and was about to hang up when she suddenly heard a very familiar say "Elizabeth?"

She felt her heart skip a few beats.

"John." she said.

"Did I wake you up?" he wanted to know.

"No. I couldn't sleep." she replied.

"Same here." They were silent for a few moments.

She was dying to know why he had called her, but she didn't want to ask.

John was mentally kicking himself on the other end for his lack of self-control. He hadn't really meant to call her. He had been thinking about her, wondering what she was doing, whether it felt as strange to be back on earth to her as it did to him. He had wanted to hear her voice. He had wanted to talk to her. He just didn't have a reason to call her and while they were friends back on Atlantis, he thought maybe she would prefer to have a few days to herself here on earth, without him following her around, or calling her up in the middle of the night.

After all, she had decided not to stay at the SGC with him. That probably meant that she wanted to be left alone.

Then suddenly he realized that he had picked up the phone and dialed her number, and before he could hang up again, she had already answered.

Now what he needed was a reason for calling her, an excuse of some kind.

He couldn't think of anything. Fine. Considering how easily she was able to see right through him anyway, he thought maybe it was best to just tell the truth. Or something that was not too far from it.

"I was just wondering what you were doing with the rest of your free time."

She hesitated for a moment, long enough for him to know she wasn't telling the truth when she answered "Lots of things. There's just so much to do here."

She could almost see his smile when he said "So you, too, don't know what to do with yourself."

She closed her eyes for a second. Somehow it felt good to know that he knew her so well that she didn't have a chance of fooling him.

"I can't stop thinking about Atlantis." she said.

"Me too." he told her "I thought it would be good to be back on earth, and it is, but still..." he sighed "Just like last time."

She laughed. "Right. We should have known better."

He cleared his throat "Listen, I thought, maybe, if you want to... that is if you don't have anything important to do..." he grimaced slightly. He was behaving like a schoolboy. He took a deep breath and with a short laugh said "I have nothing to do and you have nothing to do, so why not keep each other company?"

She was silent for a moment and he held his breath. Was she thinking about a way out? Maybe she really wanted to be left alone.

"I'd love to, John." she finally said, her voice sounding happy, or was he imagining that?

"Really?" he asked in his softest voice.

She closed her eyes for a second. Her restlessness was forgotten. She felt warm and comfortable, just from hearing his voice.

"Really." she said.

"Good." he sounded quite cheerful now "I'll pick you up tomorrow and we can have breakfast somewhere. And then we'll find something we can do. What about nine in the morning?"

She smiled. "Sounds good. I'm looking forward to it." Her smile turned into a grin at hearing herself say that. It was probably the understatement of the year. She was excited.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, then." hhe said.

"Yes, see you tomorrow." she answered

There was silence again for a few seconds before he said softly "Good night, 'lizabeth"

"Good night, John." she replied, just as softly.

She hung up and lay back down on her bed, a happy smile staying on her face while she slowly drifted off to sleep.


End file.
